Device for orienting apples

ABSTRACT

A wheel-type lower indent finder is provided cooperatively adjacent the open bottom of a receptacle containing an apple, the wheel turning the apple until one of its two indents is over the wheel. The receptacle is one of a series provided at regular spaced intervals on a disc. At spaced intervals along the path of travel of the disc, one or more spring pressed devices are provided which serve to disturb a rotating or nonrotating unoriented apple and return it to a position in its receptacle in which the wheel can effectively turn the apple until the lower indent in the apple is over the wheel but is free of the wheel. Thereafter, the lower indent is engaged by an indent pickup finger which is effective to engage the lower indent. Immediately thereafter an upper indent pickup finger is lowered to engage the upper indent. If the lower indent is engaged but the upper indent is not in exact vertical alignment, then the upper indent pickup finger assists positively in actually shifting the fruit so that the upper finger will engage the upper indent. The indent engaging means are thereafter effective to move an apple held between them to a desired location. If both indents are not engaged by the finers, the fruit is rejected.

United States Patent [72] Invento M lm m Lowland Primary Examiner-Richard E. Aegerter orindl; Attorney-Eckhoff & Hoppe Robert G. Ellis, Richmond, both of, Calif. [Zl] App]. No. 814,477 [22] Filed Jan.2, 1969 ABSTRACT: A wheel-type lower indent finder is provided [45] Patented June 22, I971 cooperatively adjacent the open bottom of a receptacle con- [73] Assignee Atlas Pacific Engineering Company taining an apple, the wheel turning the apple until one of its Continuation-impart of application Ser. No, two indents is over the wheel. The receptacle is one of a series 629,618, Apr. 10, 1967, now aband ned, provided at regular spaced intervals on a disc. At spaced intervals along the path of travel of the disc, one or more spring pressed devices are provided which serve to disturb a rotating or nonrotating unoriented apple and return it to a position in its receptacle in which the wheel can effectively turn the apple until the lower indent in the apple is over the wheel but is free [5 4 DEVICE FOR OMEN-"NC APPLES gt" the wheel. Thereafterilthe lpfwer indent is engaged lby an lschims 38 Drawing Figs ent pickup finger whic IS e ectrve to engage the ower 1ndent. Immediately thereafter an upper indent pickup finger IS US. Cllowered to engage the upper indenL the lower indent is en. [51] Int. Cl 865g 47/24 gaged but the upper indent is not in exact venica] alignment of then the upper indent finger assists positively in ac. tually shifting the fruit so that the upper finger will engage the [56] References cued upper indent. The indent engaging means are thereafter efiec- UNITED STATES PATENTS tive to move an apple held between them to a desired location. 2,909,270 10/1959 Hait 198/33 (lr) If both indents are notengaged by the finers, the fruit is re- 3,448,845 6/1969 Belk 198/33 (1R) jected.

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sum 17 [1F 17 FIE--35- INVENTORS MALCOLM w. LOVELAND BY ROBERT e. ELLIS ZUWQWZW ATTORNEYS DEVICE FOR ORIENTING APPLES This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 629,618, filed Apr. I0, 1967, now abandoned.

The use of the aforementioned spring pressed devices to disturb a rotating or nonrotating unoriented fruit has been found in practice to increase the efficiency of orientation from 85 percent to 95 percent and more. The use of the indent pickup fingers and reject has virtually eliminated the delivery of nonoriented fruit from the further processes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A continuous mechanism having a wheel-type orientor that semiorients double indented fruit and delivers this fruit to opposing indent pickup fingers which refine the orientation and supply a continuous series of apples oriented in relation to their indents to a processing device, such as a coring and peelmg means.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Fruit has been oriented by use of a cup and wheel heretofore as in US. Pat. No. 3,198,312. Thereafter, the fruit was removed from the cup by jaws which gripped the fruit on opposite sides. Only the lower indent and outside surface was thus located and no reference was made to the upper indent. If the upper indent was offcenter, it remained that way during subsequent operations resulting in an inferior end product.

SUMMARY In general, it is the broad object of this invention to provide an improved wheel orientor construction in which substantially all apples are caused to engage effectively the wheel for turning into a position in which one of the two indents is on the bottom in general vertical alignment with the center of the apple.

Another object is to provide a machine in which the orientation occurs in two stages. In the first stage, the apple is semioriented, being positioned with its stem-blossom axis generally vertical and with at least the lower indent located with good accuracy. In the second succeeding stage, location of the stem-blossom axis vertically is either perfected or, if this is not possible, the fruit is rejected.

Another object is to reject fruit when either one or both indents is not properly positioned.

The invention includes other objects and features of advantage, some of which, together with the foregoing, will appear hereinafter wherein the present preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed.

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings accompanying and forming a part hereof:

FIG. l is a side elevation showing a portion of the feeding mechanism and the primary orienting, peeling and coring mechanisms;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the flow of apples through the machine from the bulk supply to the peeled and cored fruit;

FIG. 3 is a section taken along the lines 3-3 of FIG. I showing the feeding mechanism, a plan view of the primary orienting mechanism, and a portion of the peeling mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a portion of the primary orienting mechanism with some parts thereof broken away for purposes of illustration;

FIG. 5 is a section taken along the lines 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a section taken along the lines 6-6 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a section taken along the lines 7-7 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the movement of the conveyor on which the primary orientation is effected in relation to the movement of the lower stem indent engaging means, the successive views A, B, C and D illustrating the relationship of the fruit support cup and lower indent pickup finger, the movement of the latter as the fruit is carried away from the primary orienting conveyor and the action of the reject mechanism on an unoriented apple which has been lifted by the lower indent finger;

FIG. 9 shows in side elevation the successive positions of the indent pickup fingers in relation to a fruit aligned on the primary orienting conveyor with the stem and blossom axis in a vertical position, the views corresponding to positions A, B, C and D in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view, like FIGS. 8 and 9, illustrating the engagement of the lower stem indent finger with fruit which is semioriented and how the upper indent finger succeeds in sliding into engagement with the upper indent so the fruit is fully aligned and held with its indents engaged;

FIG. 1 1 shows schematically the operation of the indent pickup fingers with cross oriented fruit and the manner of rejection because the pickup fingers slip off the surface prior to any peeling operation;

FIG. 12 is a section taken along the lines 12-12 of FIG. 3, being particularly a vertical section taken through the peeling and coring mechanism with the peeling mechanism on the lefthand side of the figure, shown in a position in which it is not in engagement with the fruit, while on the right-hand side the peeling mechanism is in peeling engagement with the fruit;

FIG. 13 is a section taken along the lines 13-13 of FIG. 12 and in which the indent pickup fingers are engaged with the fruit;

FIG. 14 is a view similar to FIG. 13 but in which the fork for turning the fruit has been engaged by the fruit while the fruit is held by the indent pickup fingers, as shown in FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is an elevation showing the peeling mechanism in relation to the fruit during initial peeling stage of the fruit;

FIG. 16 is an elevation similar to FIG. 15 but at an advanced stage during peeling and an initial stage of coring;

FIG. I7 is a view similar to FIGS. 15 and 16 but showing the peeling mechanism moved out of engagement with the fruit and with the apple fully cored by the coring mechanism;

FIG. 18 is another view illustrating the termination of the coring operation just at the beginning of ejection of the cored and peeled fruit;

FIG. 19 is a plan view showing the mechanism operating the lower indent pickup finger and the coring device with the view taken along line 19-19 of FIG. 13;

FIG. 20 is a section taken along the lines 20-20 of FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 is a section taken along the lines 21-21 of FIG. I5;

FIG. 22 is a section taken along the lines 22-22 of FIG. 21;

FIG. 23 is a side elevation view of the mechanism for supporting and operating the upper indent pickup finger and the fork on which the fruit is impaled for peeling;

FIG. 24 is a plan view of the knife used for trimming the upper indent end of the fruit;

FIG. 25 is a side elevation of the mechanism for trimming the upper indent of the fruit;

FIG. 26 is a side elevation showing the mechanism for operating the rotary cutters and for moving these into and out of fruit engagement;

FIG. 27 is a section taken along the lines 27-27 of FIG. 26;

FIG. 28 is a section taken along the lines 28-28 of FIG. 26; showing further details of the means for moving the rotary knives into and out of fruit engagement;

FIG. 29 is a section taken along the lines 29-29 of FIG. 26;

FIG. 30 is a section taken along the lines 30-30 of FIG. 29;

FIG. 31 is a timing chart showing the relative timing of the various operations of the machine;

FIG. 32 is a plan view of an improved embodiment of the primary orienting mechanism corresponding to that shown in FIG. 4 with some parts thereof broken away for the purposes of illustration;

FIG. 33 is a section taken along the lines 33-33 of FIG. 32;

FIG. 34 is a section taken along the lines 34-34 of FIG. 32;

FIG. 35 is a plan view of a spring knockout device as shown in FIG. 32 and illustrating its relationship to an apple held at the indents by the secondary orienting mechanism;

FIG. 36 is a section taken along the lines 36-36 of FIG. 35; and

FIGS. 37 and 38 correspond to FIGS. 35 and 36 but illustrating the relationship between the spring knockout device and an oriented apple of larger size.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The machine of the present invention includes a feed conveyor (FIG. 1,2 and 3) which delivers apples in single file and one at a time to a feed star 42. The feed conveyor 10 includes a chain movable about a path defined by several sprockets including a drive sprocket 8 mounted on shaft 11. The chain has a plurality of spaced lugs 36 thereon which pick up and roll or push the apples along a shelf to discharge into feed star 42. Apples can be fed to the conveyor 10 as from bulk supply bin 21 (FIG. 3) including a belt 23 and deflectors 24 and 26. Such a feed is described in a patent issued to Ellis, et al., US. Pat. No. 3,4l4,l 10.

The feed star 42 discharges the apples one at a time onto a conveyor shown here as disc 47 wherein each apple is given a primary orientation in one of the receptacles 46 in the disc. Apples are confined to the feed star by rim 43 extending about the feed base plate 44.

The Drive for the Feed and Orientation The several units so far described are driven in a positive and timed relationship from a prime mover, as will be presently described. All units described and to be described are supported by a frame generally indicated as 6 (FIG. 1).

The conveyor 10, the feed star 42 and the disc 47 move in a timed relationship such that as each receptacle 46 comes beneath a pocket of the feed star an apple is dropped into a receptacle. This drive is effected by a prime mover 101 having a pulley 102 about which a belt 203 extends (FIG. 3). The belt also extends about pulley 104 on a gear box 106 from which a vertical shaft 107 depends. A pinion gear 108 on shaft 107 drives bull gear 109 (FIGS. 3 and 6) which is mounted on a shaft 41 that is journaled in bearings 40 on frame members 32 and 33. Members 32 and 33 are portions of the generally indicated frame 6. Shaft 107 also has a sprocket 111 attached to it and a chain 112 passes about that sprocket to a sprocket 113 on shaft 114. Feed star 42 is mounted on shaft 114 which also carries a bevel gear 116 which in turn drives another bevel gear 117 on shaft 11 to drive the conveyor 10.

The Primary Orientation Mechanism Means are provided for suitably rotating a primary fruit orientor, generally designated at 50, in each one of the receptacles 46 (FIGS. 4-7 The primary orientor includes a wheel 51 mounted upon one end of a shaft 52. Preferably the wheel is mounted eccentrically on the shaft and its periphery is preferably knurled as at 53 (see US. Pat. No.3,l98,3 l 2). Shaft 52 is journaled in a bearing support 54, collars 56 and 57 being provided at opposite ends of the shaft to retain the shaft in position with each wheel 51 centered under a receptacle. The bearing support 54- terminates in a Y-shaped yoke 58 (FIG. 4) having arms 61 and 62 journaled by pins 64 on ears 63 on the underside of the upwardly extending extension 65 and a spring 66 is extended between this extension and a stud 67 provided upon the underside of the disc so the spring normally maintains the wheel in the position in which it rotates within the confines of the receptacle as in FIGS. 5 and 6. In this position of operation each bearing support 54 is held against the lower rim of a receptacle 46.

The yoke arms 61 and 62 are joined together to provide a common depending arm 70. The arm 70 carries a roller 81 which rolls along a cam track 82 supported from the frame member 33 to move the yoke 58 and wheel 51 as will appear.

During the operation, it is desirable to move the wheel from the confines of its associated receptacle so that a certain secondary orienting and pickup mechanism can operate. This is effected by providing a cam track 82 radially about the center of shaft 41 and in such a location in relation to the shaft that the wheel and its support structure are moved from the position shown in FIG. 6 to the position shown in FIG. 7 in which the wheel is away from the receptacle over a small portion of the rotation of disc 47, e.g. about] 5-20 measured on each side of and from the tangent point of the orientor disc 47 and presently to be described turret 151. Thus, the over all extent of the cam is 3040. With some apples having an elongated shape, efficient primary orientation cannot be easily attained. In this case, the start of the cam is provided at a point about l20 in advance of the tangent point so that the apples can be visually observed and hand turned into position if necessary.

Rotation of the wheel in a clockwise direction, as viewed looking to the left in FIG. 4 and shown in FIG. 5, is effected through a flexible cable 86 attached as at 87 to the shafts 52 and attached as at 88 to shaft 89 which extends through the bearings 91 mounted in turn in the sleeve 90. At one end the shaft 89 is held in a fixed position longitudinally by collar 92 while at the other end it carries a bevel gear 93 which is enmeshed with the bevel gear 131. The bevel gear 131 is secured to the reducer output shaft 127 and is driven by a drive which includes a motor 122 having a pulley 123 thereon. A belt 124 passes about this pulley and about a pulley 125 provided about a speed reducer 126 attached to disc 47 FIG. 1 and 60).

The sleeve 90 for each orientor 50 is secured in ring 118 bolted to the orientor disc 47 and plate 121 which is secured on the upper end of the shaft 41. Thus, the orientors 50 and the orientor disc 47 rotate with shaft 41 while the orientor wheels 51 are rotated by the drive through bevel gears 131 and 93.

In one machine disc 47 was 38 inches in diameter at the line of center of the receptacles and was turned at between 5-8 r.p.m. while wheels 51 were turned at aboutl00R.P.M. by the drive through bevel gears 131 and 93. The speed of rotation of the wheel 51 should be kept substantially constant and independent of the speed of rotation of the disc. The speed of rotation of the disc is coordinated with the ease with which the apples being run may be oriented and peeled. The primary stage of orientation is achieved when the apple in the receptacle has been tumbled and turned until one indent or the other encompasses the wheel 51. The proportions of the wheel and receptacle are such in relation to an indent in an apple that when the wheel is within an indent the wheel no longer attempts to turn the apple. When this condition is obtained, the apple may be described as semioriented, that is the lower indent and the outside surface of the apple are in correlated positions but position of the upper indent has been wholly disregarded up to this time. The secondary orientation, presently to be described, refines the position of the upper indent in relation to the lower indent at the expense of the position of the outside surface of the apple.

FIGS. 32 through 34 of the drawings illustrate a modification in the primary orienting structure which allows an adjustment in the location of the orienting wheels 51 relative to receptacles 46. This feature is of particular advantage in the orientation of graded apples where the size of the apples being processed is generally uniform.

It is to be understood that apples of different sizes will extend downward into receptacles 46 to various depths. In general, the smaller apples will project downward further than a larger apple as will be evident in view of FIG. 34. Therefore, if the orienting wheels 51 are adjusted for engaging apples of relatively small size, then the wheels may not engage the bottom surface of large apples. In any event, the most effective position of the orienting wheels for small apples will not be adjusted properly for maximum orientation of the large apples. Thus it is desirable to provide means for adjusting the location of orienting wheels 51 to accommodate the particular size of apples being processed. This may be accomplished most expeditiously with the apparatus and embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 32-34, wherein the receptacle disc 47a supports a ring 4712 which is supported from the underside thereof by means of a plurality of support brackets 47c. Ring 47b in turn supports a plurality of shoes 68, one shoe being provided for each 

1. A fruit orientor for indented fruit comprising: a. a conveyor; b. means mounting the conveyor for movement over a path in a horizontal plane; c. means for continuously moving the conveyor over said path; d. the conveyor having a plurality of fruit receptacles spaced along the conveyor and each receptacle being provided on its bottom with a central hole; e. a fruit tumbling wheel mounted adjacent the bottom of each receptacle centrally thereof and protruding into its associated hole over a portion of the path of travel of the conveyor to tumble an unoriented fruit in said receptacle toward the leading edge of the receptacle until the one indent is positioned downwards encompassing the wheel; f. means to withdraw the wheel from said hole over a portion of the path of travel of the conveyor; g. the shape and position of said wheel being such that the wheel ceases to turn the fruit when an indent is over the wheel; h. and at least one spring-pressed finger is provided adjacent the path of the conveyor to deflect the path of rotation of a rotating but unoriented fruit or to move a fruit in a receptacle which is not in driving engagement with a wheel into such wheel engagement.
 2. A fruit orientor as in claim 1 wherein a series of spring-pressed fingers are provided along the path of travel of the conveyor and on opposite sides thereof and each extends in the direction of movement of the conveyor and has its outer end extending into the path of travel of a fruit in a receptacle.
 3. A fruit orientor as in claim 2 wherein the fruit tumbling wheel is mounted on the conveyor for movement from a first position in which the wheel protrudes into its associated hole to a second position in which the wheel is away from said hole.
 4. A fruit orientor comprising: a. a continuous conveyor; b. means mounting the conveyor for movement over a path in a horizontal plane; c. means for continuously moving the conveyor; d. the conveyor having a plurality of fruit receiving receptacles spaced along the conveyor, each receptacle being provided on its bottom with a central hole; e. a fruit tumbling wheel mounted adjacent the bottom of each receptacle centrally thereof and protruding into its associated hole over a portion of the path of travel of the conveyor to tumble an unoriented fruit in said hole toward the leading edge of the receptacle; f. a first and lower indent pickup finger; g. a second and upper indent pickup finger cooperatively associated and axially aligned with the first indent pickup finger; h. means for moving the indent fingers over a path which is contiguous with a portion of the path of the conveyor and for elevating the fruit out of contact with the receptacle; i. and at least one spring-pressed finger provided adjacent the outer edge of the conveyor and positioned to contact fruit elevated out of contact with said receptacle by said indent pickup fingers during initial removal of the fruit from the conveyor, whereby fruit not properly oriented for said Pickup fingers is discarded.
 5. A device as in claim 4 wherein the means for moving the indent pickup fingers over a path moves the indent finger over such path at a rate substantially greater than the rate of movement of the conveyor.
 6. A device as in claim 4 wherein the means for moving the indent pickup fingers over a path moves the indent finger over such path at a rate which is at least twice the rate of movement of the conveyor.
 7. A fruit orientor for indented fruit comprising: a. a conveyor; b. means mounting the conveyor for movement over a path in a horizontal plane; c. means for continuously moving the conveyor over said path; d. the conveyor having a plurality of fruit receptacles spaced along the conveyor and each receptacle being provided on its bottom with a central hole; e. a fruit tumbling wheel mounted adjacent the bottom of each receptacle centrally thereof and protruding into its associated hole over a portion of the path of travel of the conveyor to tumble an unoriented fruit in said receptacle toward the leading edge of the receptacle until the one indent is positioned downwards encompassing the wheel; f. the shape and position of said wheel being such that the wheel ceases to turn the fruit when an indent is over the wheel; g. means to withdraw the wheel from said hole over a portion of the path of travel of the conveyor; h. and means for simultaneously adjusting the vertical position of said wheels relative to the bottom of the receptacles with which they are associated, said means comprising a ring having a plurality of contacts, one contact being located on said ring for use as a stop to position one of said wheels relative to its associated receptacle, each of said contacts having a sloped surface that may be engaged at various positions therealong, a small rotation of said ring adjusting the position of each of said contacts for selectively raising or lowering each of said wheels relative to their associated receptacles.
 8. A fruit orientor for double-indented fruit comprising: a. a continuous conveyor having a feed and discharge station; b. means mounting the conveyor for movement over a path in a horizontal plane; c. means for continuously moving the conveyor; d. means for supporting the fruit at spaced intervals on the conveyor; e. means to tumble the fruit and urge it to reach a position in which one indent is lowermost while the fruit is supported by its outer surface on the conveyor; f. at least one spring-pressed finger provided in the path of the fruit for disturbing unoriented fruit prior to arrival at the discharge station; g. means to withdraw the fruit tumbling means from adjacent the fruit; h. a first lower indent pickup finger; i. a second and upper pickup finger cooperatively associated and axially aligned with the first indent pickup finger; j. means for moving the first and second fingers toward each other and then in the same direction to first contact the fruit by its indents and then remove the fruit from the conveyor; k. and means for continuously moving the indent pickup fingers over a path contiguous with a portion of the path of the conveyor.
 9. A device as in claim 8 wherein the means for moving the indent pickup fingers over a path moves the indent finger over such path at a rate substantially greater than the rate of movement of the conveyor.
 10. A device as in claim 8 wherein means are provided for rejecting fruit which does not have both indents engaged by the fingers.
 11. A fruit orientor for double-indented fruit comprising: a. conveyor means for supplying fruit continuously and one at a time in a regularly spaced order, each piece of fruit being oriented with respect to at least one indent; b. a first lower indent pickup finger; c. a second and upper pickup finger cooperatively associated with the first indent pickup finger; and d. means for moving said first and second fingers towArd each other and then in the same direction to first contact the fruit by its indents and then remove the fruit from the conveyor means; e. and means for rejecting any fruit which is incompletely oriented but supported by said pickup fingers; f. said rejecting means comprising a preloaded spring positioned to engage a piece of fruit carried by said indent fingers, and means for adjusting the preload on said spring without changing the point of contact made with the piece of fruit carried by said indent fingers.
 12. A device as in claim 11, said rejecting means comprising a pair of leaf springs, one bearing against the other, a stop, and means for bringing said one leaf spring against the other and bringing said other into engagement with said stop.
 13. A fruit orientor as in claim 11, including a. means for rejecting any fruit which is incompletely oriented but supported by said pickup fingers; b. said rejecting means comprising a preloaded spring positioned to engage a piece of fruit carried by said indent fingers, and means for adjusting the preload on said spring without changing the point of contact made with the piece of fruit carried by said indent fingers.
 14. A fruit orientor for double-indented fruit comprising: a. a continuous conveyor having a feed and discharge station; b. means mounting the conveyor for movement over a path in a horizontal plane; c. means for continuously moving the conveyor; d. means for supporting the fruit at spaced intervals on the conveyor; e. means to tumble the fruit and urge it to reach a position in which one indent is lowermost while the fruit is supported by its outer surface on the conveyor; f. means to withdraw the fruit tumbling means from adjacent the fruit; g. a first lower indent pickup finger; h. a second and upper pickup finger cooperatively associated and axially aligned with the first indent pickup finger; i. means for moving the first and second fingers toward each other and then in the same direction to first contact the fruit by its indents and then remove the fruit from the conveyor; j. a spring-pressed finger mounted adjacent the outer edge of the conveyor and positioned to contact fruit being initially removed from the conveyor by said pickup fingers, whereby fruit not properly oriented for said pickup fingers is discarded. k. and means for continuously moving the indent pickup fingers over a path contiguous with a portion of the path of the conveyor.
 15. A fruit orientor comprising: a. a continuous conveyor; b. means mounting the conveyor for movement over a path in a horizontal plane; c. means for continuously moving the conveyor; d. the conveyor having a plurality of fruit receiving receptacles spaced along the conveyor, each receptacle being provided on its bottom with a central hole; e. a fruit tumbling wheel mounted adjacent the bottom of each receptacle centrally thereof and protruding into its associated hole over a portion of the path of travel of the conveyor to tumble an unoriented fruit in said hole toward the leading edge of the receptacle; f. a first and lower indent pickup finger; g. a second and upper indent pickup finger cooperatively associated and axially aligned with the first indent pickup finger; h. and means for moving the indent fingers over a path which is contiguous with a portion of the path of the conveyor and for elevating the fruit out of contact with the receptacle. 